Doctor Who_ The King's Dragon Part 3

46.

Chapter 3.

Outside, the corridor was dark, apart from a single lamp on the wall where the pa.s.sage bent away towards the right. That was still burning, but as Amy watched, its flame withered and died. The howl grew louder. The low growl rose quickly in pitch until it was an eldritch shriek that made Amy's teeth tingle. Whatever was making all this racket was round the bend in the corridor. dark, apart from a single lamp on the wall where the pa.s.sage bent away towards the right. That was still burning, but as Amy watched, its flame withered and died. The howl grew louder. The low growl rose quickly in pitch until it was an eldritch shriek that made Amy's teeth tingle. Whatever was making all this racket was round the bend in the corridor.

Amy ran after it. As she swung round the corner, she saw the lamps gutter and die, one by one, plunging the way ahead into shadow. The screech stopped. Behind her, Rory shouted, 'Amy!

Where are you? Wait!' But the lamps were going out more quickly, so she gathered pace and ran to 47.catch up with the darkness. She heard the growl again, coming from ahead, rising up and drowning out Rory's voice.

Then the walls fell away from her. The howling stopped. 'h.e.l.lo?' Amy called out, her voice echoing slightly. 'Who's there?' She peered ahead and, as her eyes adjusted, she saw that she was standing in a chamber about a quarter of the size of the council hall, as far as she could tell. A meeting place, perhaps, or a reception room. Nearby, a single lamp burned bravely. Through its slender light Amy glimpsed pale frescoes, ghostly figures dancing on the walls and, deep in the gloom, the glitter of gold, or Enamour, or whatever it was the Doctor called it. Beyond that, the room was completely dark, although, at the edge of her perception, she was sure something was moving, scratching, growling...

Amy took a deep breath. 'Right. Time for a closer look.' She lifted the lamp from its holding and, heart pounding, took a slow step forward. She held the light up and out in front of her, trying to get some real sense of what lay ahead. Two steps, three... and then the torch she was carrying began to flicker. 'Don't even think about it!' she told it.

But the lamp had its own plans - or, rather, something had plans for the lamp. Because it didn't simply go out - it was pulled pulled out. To Amy's out. To Amy's 48 48 astonishment, the flame spun into a long thin golden thread, which was dragged across the room, where it was ravelled up and soon gone.

'Now that is just not fair!'

Deep in the darkness, whatever-it-was moved: two quick steps across the tiled floor. Amy jumped away, crashing to a halt when her back hit the wall of the chamber. The howl was low and rumbling and definitely a threat; a threat that was gaining ground, like an air-raid siren warning you of the approach of something terrible. It was a sound to keep you awake at night. More steps towards where Amy stood. Then she saw it, half-visible, barely a condensation of the darkness itself.

It was humanoid but elongated. Its limbs were thin and stretched, like the long black branches of a tree in winter, and they were growing longer. The creature's reach extended rapidly, spreading out from its side of the chamber towards Amy. She held her dead lamp up in front of her, a poor useless shield. To the shadow, she said, 'So there really is a monster. You'd think I'd know better by now. h.e.l.lo, monster!'

Its jaws hinged open and it screamed back.

'Not much of a talker, eh? That's fine. I don't mind doing the talking.'

Its huge metalled arm stretched out towards her, scaled like the hide of a dragon. Amy held the 49 49 lamp aloft. 'I come in peace!'

The creature unfurled its long fingers, too many fingers. Amy flinched back against the wall. 'Urn... help?' help?'

None came. But, as the first flood of emergency adrenalin subsided a little, Amy realised that lack of help might be less of a problem than she feared. The beast loomed darkly over her. Yes, it was big; yes, it was scary; yes, it was making enough of a noise that any second the dead were going to wake up and knock on the wall and complain about the racket and ask why a hard-working corpse couldn't get any sleep around here - but it wasn't actually coming any closer... closer... If anything, it was keeping a slight distance; studying her, examining her... If anything, it was keeping a slight distance; studying her, examining her...

Slowly, tentatively, Amy reached out to touch the creature in front of her. Her hand went right through it. The insubstantial giant shuddered, flickered half-in and half-out of sight, and then vanished.

All the lamps came back on, fiercely. Amy nearly dropped the one she was holding. Carefully, hands shaking, she put it back in its place on the wall, scolding it as she did so. 'Where were you when I needed you most?' With the lamp back in place, and breathing deeply to steady herself, she turned to take a look round. The room was empty, apart from the big stash of gold heaped up in the 50.middle, gleaming prettily under the lamps.

Amy shook her head. 'Huh.' She went over to the gold. Cups and goblets; rings and brooches.

Beautiful. She picked up one of the brooches. It had a lovely sheen about it, almost an aura, something that seemed separate from and yet at the same time intrinsic to the metal. She turned it over in her hands. It felt soft, like silk rippling between her fingers. And it was so very lovely...

She was fixing the brooch to her jacket when Rory burst into the room.

'Amy!' He ran over to her. 'All you all right?

What happened?'

Amy admired the brooch and then picked up a necklace from the top of the pile. 'Hmm?'

'What happened?'

She gave him a puzzled look. 'Nothing happened. The lights went out. I came in here and found some gold. Enamour. Whatever. Do you like my brooch?'

'What? Yes, it's very nice. Amy, what about the noise?'

'What noise?'

'You know!' Rory shrieked. 'That noise.'

'Oh, that.' Amy shrugged. 'I don't know. The wind, maybe. Trapped in the corridor. These old buildings, no proper insulation. Do you think this necklace is too much with the brooch?'

51.'The wind?' Rory was unconvinced. 'Do you think so?'

'Rory,' she said impatiently, 'if there was anything else, then I'd tell you, wouldn't I. OK?'

She decided the necklace worked, put it on, and turned to go. Then she saw the Doctor.

He was standing by the door, leaning back against the wall, tapping the sonic screwdriver against his cheek. He was frowning. Tall and thin and alien, much scarier than any creeping shadow or sleeping dragon. Amy looked away, suddenly feeling 7 years old again and knowing that the stranger in the garden with the box of delights was disappointed in her. And then she felt cross with him, not only for leaving that 7-year-old behind after promising to be back, but because he didn't believe her now. She lifted her chin and looked him straight in the eye. 'There was nothing actually there,' she said firmly. 'It was all a trick of the light.'

The Doctor pushed himself up from the wall.

'All right,' he said pleasantly. He slipped the sonic screwdriver into his pocket. 'Well, as I was saying before we were so rudely interrupted, I'd like a closer look at that dragon.'

'Won't there be a guard on it?' Rory said.

'They're not going to let us wander in and take a poke at their precious dragon, are they?'

52.'When did that ever stop us?' Amy said, lightly.

She walked past the Doctor and out of the chamber without meeting his eye again. 'Coming, boys?'

They came. The three of them crept back through the complex to the council chamber. Amy walked slightly behind and tried to clear her thoughts.

'No,' she said eventually, more to herself than anyone else, her fingers tangled in her new necklace. 'It was definitely a trick of the light. Too much imagination in the dark.'

'That's what you said before,' Rory replied.

'Because if the wind was howling around the corridors, it could have blown the lamps out, too, couldn't it? Couldn't it have been the wind?'

'Yes, the wind could have blown the lights out.'

So whatever she had seen - if in fact she had seen anything at all - it must have been her imagination. Yes, her imagination. This was what happened when you hung around with the Doctor. You started to believe there were monsters in every corridor, when it was only some wind rattling at the windows. But how did that explain the lingering feeling of dread? The sense that someone was coming, that something terrible was about to happen? That someone was watching her?

'Stupid creepy place,' she muttered. 'Imagination.

53.Definitely. Trick of the light.'

'Amy,' Rory said. 'n.o.body's disagreeing with you.'

'Well, good,' she said. 'Quite right, too.'

'Although,' Rory added, 'I don't quite see how the wind blew the lamps alight again.'

The Doctor stopped dead in his tracks. 'I wonder,' he said in exasperation, 'if we could talk a little less. This being an attempt at stealth, remember? And trying not to attract any attention and all the rest of it? Just a suggestion.'

Rory and Amy nodded. The Doctor walked on, and they trailed guiltily behind him. Then he stopped again. 'Ah.'

Amy peered over his shoulder. The doors to the council chamber were round the next bend in the corridor, but two of Beol's knights were standing in front of them. 'Are there guards?' asked Rory in a stage whisper. 'I said there'd be guards.'

Amy put her hand on the Doctor's shoulder.

'Right, what's the plan?'

'Plan?'

'I bet it's brilliant.'

'Brilliant.'

'I bet it's so brilliant I could see my own face in it.'

Behind them, Rory said, 'We could always try the side entrance.'

54.The Doctor and Amy, turning to look at him, said in unison, 'What 'What side entrance?' side entrance?'

Rory shoved his hands in his pockets and stared down at his feet. 'There's usually one, isn't there? I think I saw some people leave that way earlier... I was sitting over on the side, yes? Not everyone went out of the main doors... Look, it was "just a suggestion"!'

Roughly five and a half minutes later, the three of them came to a halt before an unprepossessing and unguarded door. The Doctor tried the handle. It opened without creaking. 'And we're in!' he said softly and gleefully. He slipped inside, Amy and Rory following close behind, and the travellers found themselves in the arcade that ran around the perimeter of the council chamber.

The hall itself was dark and deserted.

Everything was in shadow which only an hour or two earlier had been so full and busy. Up on the dais, two lamps burned behind the throne. The dragon glowed palely. The Doctor made straight for it. He knelt down in front of it and patted it on the snout.

'Don't worry,' he said to it, aiming the sonic screwdriver into its half-open eye. 'This won't hurt.'

The beast shuddered. 'Whoa! Down boy!' The Doctor switched off the sonic, moved round to the 55 55 side of the dragon and then - gently, ever so gently - used it again to remove a tiny piece of metal from the dragon's side. 'Come here, both of you,' he said to Amy and Rory. 'Come and take a closer look at raw Enamour.'

It was only a sc.r.a.p - a tiny scale - nestling in the palm of the Doctor's hand. But it was so smooth, and its colour so pure and unusual... Even a piece as small as this, Amy thought, you'd love to have it.

You'd love to take it out to look at it and hold it and know that you owned it. You'd love to be able to call it yours...

'You're thinking that it's beautiful, aren't you?'

said the Doctor. 'That it's the most gorgeous thing you've ever seen. Rory doesn't match up. Amy doesn't compare. You're wondering what it would be like to have it, you're wondering how you ever lived without it, and you can't understand why anyone would say that it's dangerous. How can anything so gorgeous be so dangerous? But it's all these things - beautiful and necessary and dangerous. The people who made it understood how powerful it was. That's why they called it Enamour. Because it bewitches people. It can turn minds, sell merchandise, sway elections. And it does its job far too well.' The Doctor closed his hand.

Amy drew in a shivery breath. She glanced at 56 56 Rory. He looked shaken too. He reached over to take her hand and she held his back, tight.

The Doctor threw the piece up into the air and caught it; once again it shone in his palm. He closed his hand once more - when he opened it, the tiny powerful sc.r.a.p had disappeared. 'Yes. So that's Enamour,' he said. 'And the thing is, that it was all right wanting it, and getting it, and even wanting more of it - but it didn't stop there. Oh no. There were other effects too, side effects, that n.o.body predicted. You've felt it already, both of you, haven't you - a necklace here, a spoon there-'

'Or a fork?' Amy suggested.

'Yes, what is it about forks? And the next thing you know, you've gone and put it in your pocket.

But then you start thinking - well, is that what people are doing to my stuff? Is that what they're doing with my spoons?'

'Or forks,' Amy said, pointedly.

'Or, as you rightly say, forks. Do you have designs on my forks?' He shot her a fierce look.

Amy almost took a step back but then he grinned at her. 'So first you get protective, and then you get suspicious, and the next thing you know you're keeping secrets, and you're getting afraid, and you're wondering if maybe those people you used to call your neighbours aren't quite as friendly as you thought they were. Because look at your 57 57 amazing stuff! It's so beautiful and necessary - they must want it as much as you do. They must have their eye on it...' He looked around the chamber, into the shadows. Again, Amy had that sense of dread, that something was close, something was watching...

'I think that's been happening here,' Rory said slowly.

'Me too,' said the Doctor. His gaze came to rest on Amy. She let go of Rory's hand and folded her arms.

There hadn't been anything. Just a trick of the light.

'I got talking to this old woman earlier,' Rory said suddenly. 'Her name's Hilthe. She used to be on their council here, or whatever it was called, and then Beol rolled up with the Teller and the dragon, and they challenged her in an election, and she lost. It was nothing like the Teller's version of events.' He took out the tile that Hilthe had given him and handed it to the Doctor. His words came more and more rapidly, as if now he'd started to talk he wanted to get it all out. 'She gave me this - I don't know what it is - said that if I wanted to come and hear more about the good old days I should come and visit her. I don't think this Enamour stuff affects her, Doctor. She wasn't wearing any gold, and she couldn't understand why everyone was so... Well, enchanted enchanted by Beol.' by Beol.'

58.The Doctor examined the tile closely, studying the marks engraved upon. He flipped it over to look at the back and traced his fingertip along the delicate filigree he found there. 'It's a map of part of the city. I think the black dot on it here is probably your friend's house. This is her calling card.' He threw it back over to Rory. 'Hilthe. She sounds like somebody we should get to know better. Think you could persuade her to come and talk to me?'

'I'll give it a go.' Rory turned to Amy.

'Coming?'

She shook her head. 'No, I'll stay here. I want to find out more about this metal stuff. Where it came from. How it got here. Why there's so much of it. I'll see you in the rooms later.'

'Where it came from,' the Doctor repeated, as Rory went on his way. 'How it got here. Why there's so much of it. Anything else you'd like, while I'm at it?'

'Cup of tea would be nice, thanks, but dragon facts will do for now.'

'Right.' The Doctor flipped out the sonic screwdriver again. 'Well, the reason there's so much, is that working with the metal makes more of it. The more you do to it, the more there is of it. Like instant coffee.'

I'd rather that cup of tea,' Amy said. 'But that's why it oozes and wriggles and gets everywhere?'

59.'That's why.'

'So how about where it came from and how it got here?'

'Let's see what we can find out...' Sonic screwdriver in hand, the Doctor wandered around the dragon. It didn't move but, watching it lie there, its eye half-open, Amy couldn't quite shake the feeling that it was only biding its time, waiting to stir and rise up from the dais...

'It won't move, you know,' the Doctor said. He was on the left side of the dragon, and was apparently trying to prise it open. 'Not unless I tell it to move.' He thought about what he had just said.

'Or the people who made it turn up again and tell it to move.'